hole in her sole
by embraidery
Summary: Lucy finds herself on a quest to save her siblings from the clutches of the White Witch. Luckily, she's not alone in her quest, as she encounters a young prince on the run and a variety of creatures willing to lend a hand.


Continuing my experiments into Narnian fairy tales, this is a tale inspired by stories of women and girls wearing out pairs of iron shoes before they reach the end of their quest. It also contains some elements inspired by East of the Sun, West of the Moon.

This au is whatever it needs to be to tell the story, don't think too hard about it :P But simply, the Pevensies grew up in Narnia at the same time as Caspian X. The White Witch is around and nasty but has not put Narnia into an eternal winter.

Speaking of the White Witch, she does kidnap the Pevensies, and she does drug them. I linger on that more than in the books, if you think that'll bother you.

Enjoy!

* * *

Sunlight sifted over the forest like sugar on Lucy's favourite cake. The air was cool and crisp as biting into a bright red apple, sunlight warming her fingers and nose. She hummed a little tune as she walked, basket over her arm, leaves crunching underfoot. She stopped in front of a hollow log and watched a snake soaking up the last sunshine of autumn.

The snake lazily opened her eyes. "Good afternoon, Missss Lucy."

"Hello, Ms. Glimmer!" Lucy smiled. "Lovely day. I'm glad you can get some sun."

"Me too, me too," sighed Ms. Glimmer. "You don't have anything tasssty in that basssket, do you?"

Lucy laughed. "You're much better at catching mice than I would be. I have a few mushrooms, though, if you'd fancy a bite!" She held out her basket to reveal a handful of mushrooms round and white as pearls.

The snake shuddered, sending ripples all the way down to the tip of her tail. "No thank you. I think I shall leave the fungi for you and your brothersss and sssister!"

"I'll keep an eye out for mice," Lucy promised. She held out a hand. Ms. Glimmer rubbed against it like a cat.

"Until we meet again, Misss Lucy," said the snake.

Lucy continued on her walk through the forest, stopping here and there to collect mushrooms. She stopped by a cluster of blackberry bushes she knew grew alongside a stream. Lucy picked the succulent tangy-sweet berries until her basket was full. The berries would make a delicious blackberry pie, Peter and Susan's favourite.

The sun slipped behind the clouds as Lucy stepped into the clearing where she lived. Lucy pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders. The front door of her cottage was open, but the clearing was empty. No cheerful puffs of smoke rose from the chimney. Susan's scarf lay abandoned on the ground in front of the cottage. Lucy's stomach filled with ice. Blackberries burst as she dropped her basket, spraying droplets of juice over her shoes and stockings. She ran over to the house, heart leaping in her throat.

"Peter? Su? Ed?" No one responded. Lucy ran through each room. No one was there. No notes had been left behind.

Lucy left the cottage. The flowers Lucy and Mrs. Beaver had planted lay crushed and scattered over the yard. There were a pair of parallel tracks from a wagon or sleigh that Lucy could follow. Lucy wound Susan's scarf around her neck before walking along the wagon tracks. She didn't get far before a magpie fluttered down and landed on her shoulder.

"Miss Lucy!" he chirped.

"Hello, Briar," Lucy said. "I can't stop to talk. My siblings have disappeared!"

"I know. I saw it happen! A woman dressed all in white drove up in a sleigh and talked to your sister and brothers. I didn't hear what they said, but the woman's driver grabbed them and put them in the sleigh! They struggled, of course, but the woman had all these wolves, and they growled at your siblings until they got in the sleigh."

Lucy stopped short. "Where did she take them?"

Briar hopped up and down on Lucy's shoulder. "I don't know, but I told my brothers to look for them, and to tell other birds to do the same." Lucy took a deep breath and kept walking. "Forgive me, Miss Lucy, but you should prepare for this. Pack some food, take something to sleep on."

"Oh, I know you're right, but I so want to go right away!" Lucy twisted her fingers together. "Alright." She returned to her cottage and packed a knapsack with clothes and bedding. She picked up the basket, still bleeding blackberry juice, and added its contents to her hamper of food. She went out to the garden shed to grab rope, a knife, and a heavy sheet of canvas. The knife was one of Peter's, a gift from Father Christmas several years ago. Finally, Lucy returned to her room and pulled a box out from under her bed. Last year her Christmas gift had been a very odd pair of shoes made of iron and the cryptic message that she might need them. At the time, of course, Lucy had dismissed them, a little disappointed she hadn't gotten a set of paints or a sled. Now she had a feeling she knew what the shoes were for. It didn't stop them from being dreadfully uncomfortable, though. Lucy took a few experimental steps around the house before putting on a pair of her thickest socks and adding more to her pack. All prepared, she locked the house up behind her and set off.

Briar accompanied her for part of her journey. He told a few jokes and asked Lucy questions in an attempt to distract her, but nothing worked. She was a girl on a mission and she would not be deterred. After about an hour, though, Lucy admitted she needed to relax a little. She leaned against a rock and ate some of the blackberries. Briar ran his beak through her hair as he'd done many times before.

"Why has this happened, Briar?" Lucy asked. She picked up a mushroom and began to pull off each of the gills, dropping them on the ground.

"I don't know, Miss Lucy," said the bird helplessly.

"Have you ever seen that woman before?"

"Never." Briar gently nibbled Lucy's earlobe to make her laugh.

"Eep! Stop it!" Lucy shrieked. She instinctively pressed her head to her shoulder.

"I won't!" Briar fluttered to her other shoulder and nibbled her other earlobe.

Lucy grabbed him with both hands and held him away from her. Briar struggled to escape from her grasp, but he was only a little bird, and eventually he stopped trying to flap his wings against her palms.

"Thank you, Briar, for cheering me up," Lucy said. "And for telling the other birds about what happened. I'm truly grateful."

"Anything for you, Miss Lucy," the bird said shyly. Lucy unlaced her fingers, letting him go, and he hopped over to her shoulder. "I should go home to Mrs Briar, but you can always send me a message through the other magpies."

"I will. Please be safe," Lucy said. Briar jumped up into the air and flew away.

Lucy got up and began to walk again. She chose a more reasonable pace, knowing now that she might have many miles to walk. She distracted herself by inventing a story about a princess on an adventure. Eventually the autumn sun began to sink towards the horizon. Lucy chose a nice rock formation to against which to build her tent. She wedged sticks between the rocks and the ground to drape the piece of canvas over, then piled leaves, pieces of bark, and grass on the canvas for insulation. Inside the lean-to, she spread out her blankets and pillow. Bread and blackberries served as her dinner.

Leaves crunched outside Lucy's shelter. She tensed: most creatures in these woods were friendly, but not all, and she didn't want to take her chances against a bear. She held still, not even daring to breathe. The canvas of her tent wobbled. Lucy grabbed her knife and held it tight. She counted to thirty before she heard more crunching sounds leading away from her tent. Then the night was silent once again.

The night passed quietly after Lucy's initial scare. She snuggled into her blankets, wishing she'd thought to bring a flint and steel. It wasn't so bad once she'd settled in, though. She woke up early, before the sun, and watched the stars from inside her little tent. Drinking in the early-morning air felt like drinking ice water, clear and cold and liquid. Lucy fell back asleep until after the sunrise. She changed into fresh clothes under her blankets, packed up her bedding, and had a quick breakfast of cheese and apples before continuing on her way. Her shoes were no more comfortable than the day before, though she'd learned the best way to walk in them. She elaborated on the story she'd begun weaving yesterday until it was a rich tapestry of adventure. Lucy had to admit that 'adventure' didn't sound quite as good now that she was sort of on one. Or a quest, perhaps. What was the difference between an adventure and a quest?

Most of her day was spent in areas of the forest where no formal paths had been made. Sometimes she could follow deer paths. Other times she had to make her own way through undergrowth. The daywas still chilly, but after an hour of clambering over logs and working her way through shrubs, Lucy took off her shawl and tucked it into her knapsack. She paused to brush flyaway hairs behind her ears and to drink water from a nearby stream. She knelt down to splash her face with some of the water when she heard footsteps in the dry leaves. Looking up, she saw a young man swathed in a dark cloak. They exchanged long glances, each wary of the other.

"You're out here all alone?" he asked her, breaking the silence first. He knelt down by the stream and began refilling a waterskin.

"So are you."

"I'm on the run from my uncle."

"That's funny—you're running away from someone and I'm running towards someone," Lucy remarked. "I'm sorry you're on the run."

The boy shrugged and looked down at the waterskin, putting the cork back in. "Who are you running to?"

"My sister and brothers. Someone took them away." Lucy wiped her wet hands on her skirt before crossing them over her chest in greeting. "I'm Lucy."

"Caspian." He crossed his hands over his chest in return. "Do you know where they went?"

Lucy shook her head. She pointed in the direction she'd been walking. "I was following the sleigh tracks, but they've disappeared. My friend Briar told the magpies to look out for them, though—perhaps they know."

Caspian looked in the direction Lucy had pointed. "Would you like some company?"

Lucy leaned back onto her haunches and looked at her new companion. He looked trustworthy enough, she supposed. His cloak had fallen open, revealing a small knife at his belt. Ordinarily she'd have flagged the knife as something to worry about, but she had a knife, too. She would consider them even for the time being.

"I would like that," Lucy said.

Caspian smiled at her. "I'm glad."

He got to his feet and brushed leaves from his breeches. Lucy stood up and started walking in the direction she'd been going before.

"Hello!" she called into the air. "I'm a friend of Briar the magpie! Is there someone I can speak to?"

There was a pause before a pair of magpies darted from a tree and landed on Lucy's outstretched forearm.

"Are you the lass with the lost siblings?" asked the first magpie.

"I am!" Lucy said. She glanced at Caspian, who smiled encouragingly at her.

"We saw them pass this way," said the second magpie. "You're on the right track, but it will be a very long walk. The sleigh was going so fast we could barely see it!"

"It was just a blur," the first magpie agreed. "But it had to be them that got took by the magic lady. Who else would have such a fast sleigh?"

Lucy bit her lip. "Thank you." She turned to Caspian. "Would you mind getting some bread from my knapsack for me?" When he obliged, she handed a piece of bread to the birds.

"Thanks!" said the first magpie.

"Very kind of you," said the second. The first magpie dug their claws into the bread and flew away. The other ruffled her feathers. "I hope you find them, lassie." She paused before adding, "I have something I would like to give you." So saying, she fluttered away, returning in a trice with a clawful of bright beetle wings.

"Oh, they're so beautiful! Thank you!" Lucy said.

"They are, aren't they?" The magpie seemed to smile. "Good luck."

"Thank you! Goodbye!" Lucy said. The magpie launched off her hand.

Caspian watched the birds go. "Your siblings were taken by a...witch? Enchantress?"

"I don't know," Lucy said. She played with the fringe of Susan's scarf, still wrapped around her shoulders. She didn't want to think about what would happen when she caught up with the witch, and refused even to think that she might never catch up. "Let's go."

Caspian fell in beside her. He was a pleasant traveling companion, able to share a comfortable silence as well as he could tell a spellbinding story he'd heard from his tutor. Lucy particularly liked the ones about the bacchanals the dryads, maenads, and other forest ladies had in deep, forgotten forest clearings. The miles went by much more quickly than the day before, though Lucy's legs were beginning to get sore. They stopped for lunch by a creek where it tumbled over a boulder. There was a nice clear patch of grass perfect for laying out Lucy's piece of canvas and setting down their bags. Lucy immediately took off her shoes. Her feet, unable to breathe through the iron, smelled extremely ripe, so Lucy dunked them in the stream.

"Oooh! That is cold!" She yanked her feet out of the water and wiped them on the grass. She wrapped them in her shawl after sitting down on the canvas.

Caspian peeled off his dark cloak and tucked it into his rucksack. Now, without the shadow over his face, Lucy could see that he was a few years older than her. Glossy blond hair tumbled over his shoulders to his chest. He took meats and cheeses from his bag.

"Would you like some meat?" he asked Lucy, carving slices off a cured ham with his knife.

"Yes please! Would you like some mushrooms?" Lucy held out a small handful. Caspian took two. They feasted on bread, cheese, meat, mushrooms, and apples. Lucy knew that at some point they would have to consider finding more food, but she didn't want to think about it yet. Full of food, they half-dozed on the picnic blanket. Knowing now that the sleigh went faster than the human (or avine) eye could see, Lucy was less inclined to hurry.

"What are your siblings like?" Caspian asked.

Lucy let out a gentle puff of air. Without opening her eyes, she said, "Peter is the oldest. He's always trying his best to look after us and make sure we do the right thing. He's very noble." She smiled to herself, remembering their wrestling matches. Sometimes Edmund would fight dirty, but Peter never did. "Susan's next. She looks after us too. She has such a tongue! The sparks really fly when she and Edmund fight. When they're on the same side Peter and I have no hope of beating them. Edmund's like Susan, but not a mama duck like she is. He used to be a bit of a brat, but he's alright now."

"I have no siblings," Caspian admitted. "My uncle has a son, but he's only a babe."

Lucy pushed herself up on her elbows. "My siblings can be annoying, but I'm glad I have them." She laughed. "Oh, but if I'd met you two years ago, I would have given you Edmund in a heartbeat!"

"Was he so terrible?"

Lucy shrugged. "I can sympathise with him now that I'm a teenager. But he was so stubborn and sullen."

Caspian laughed. "I remember being a bit stubborn and sullen myself at that age."

"I wish I could remember what Peter and Susan were like at fourteen, but I was eight and ten, and I don't have so many memories from back then." Lucy lay back spread-eagled on the canvas and gazed up at the clouds.

"I'm not sure I have many memories from then either, now that you mention it." Caspian got up and rummaged in his bag. "Would you like a pastry?"

"Yes, please!" Lucy said eagerly, sitting up to accept half an apple pastry. It was thickly dusted with cinnamon. Custard oozed out the sides. It was impossible to eat neatly, so Lucy gleefully ate it messily before wiping her hands on the grass. "Who made that?"

"My family's cook. He's very good, isn't he? I'll miss his cooking."

"You have a cook?" Lucy asked. "That's amazing!"

Caspian laughed. "Yes, it's quite nice. We've always had one. Now I suppose I'll have to learn how to cook!"

"I'm sure we can all teach you once we find my siblings! Peter's really good at pastry 'cause he's so patient. Susan's the best with a bow, so she gets us wild game. Edmund makes the game into stews because he's _not_ patient so he can just put the ingredients in the pot and go do something else until it's done. I usually make bread."

"Did you make this bread?" Caspian asked, pointing at Lucy's bag.

Lucy shook her head. "Peter made these loaves."

"They're delicious!"

"Just wait until you've tried mine!" Lucy smiled. "Shall we go?"

The two of them continued on their journey. Occasionally birds would fly down to give them an update on the sleigh. It continued in an uncannily straight line, even through the thickly forested parts of the landscape. While Lucy knew that she and Caspian were on a rescue mission, it was easy to forget: the weather made her feel like she was just taking long hikes, and the fact that her siblings had been captured by some sort of witch made the whole thing feel a little like a dream. Time flowed along like honey under the autumn sky. Mid-afternoon Lucy spotted some mushrooms. It reminded her that they would need to gather more food.

Lucy showed Caspian which nuts were edible and how to spot raspberry and strawberry plants. She would look for the mushrooms herself because of the risk of confusing poisonous ones for edible ones. Most of the mushrooms Lucy was able to find were plain white or brown, though she discovered one massive orange mushroom all ruffled like a flower in the height of bloom. When all was said and done, they had quite the haul of mushrooms, berries, and nuts. Lucy had even found two truffles.

The autumn light faded fast. Luckily, Lucy and Caspian stumbled upon an abandoned cabin. The walls leaned in on each other like old friends and gaps in the walls loomed like missing teeth, but it was something. Together they searched for logs and kindling. Caspian had a flint and Lucy's knife would serve as a steel. Caspian built the fire while Lucy draped her piece of canvas over the dirt floor and laid out her bedroll. Caspian sat cross legged on his blankets, flames reflected in his eyes as he stared into its depths. Lucy leaned back onto her bed and gazed out of the missing half of the roof at the stars. She and her siblings had once made up new stories about the constellations: the Leopard, they'd decided, had been pursuing the white stag without knowing of its magical properties. The leopard chased the stag for so long that it eventually walked right into the sky. The Hammer got bored after it became a constellation and built the Ship out of star-wood, "whatever that is," Susan had giggled. Lucy pulled her blanket up to her chin and rolled over so she couldn't see the stars.

"Would you like dinner, Lucy?" Caspian offered.

Lucy rolled over again to face the centre of the room. Caspian had impaled a sandwich on a stick and held it over the fire. He'd also laid out a row of beech nuts next to the fire, as Lucy had told him that they were much better when dried. She and her siblings used to gather up apronfuls of beech nuts and let them dry out for weeks, but she and Caspian didn't have the time.

"Why are you doing to that sandwich?" Lucy asked, sitting up.

"Our cook used to serve sandwiches warmed next to a fire. Melted cheese tastes wonderful!"

"I'll try it." Lucy shrugged off her blanket and began rummaging through her basket. "I like berries with cheese—do you think that would work?"

"Berries and cheese is the food of Aslan's country," Caspian said, grinning, accepting a handful of blackberries. He alternated bites of his sandwich with berries, gasping as he burnt his tongue. Lucy assembled her own cheese and berry sandwich and speared it with a stick. It took a while to discover the right place to hold the sandwich from the fire so it didn't burn, and by the time Lucy had toasted one side, she decided one side would have to be good enough. Blackberry juice dripped down her fingers and arms as she ate and cheese burned the tips of her fingers.

"This might be the best sandwich I've ever had!"

"Agreed." Caspian smiled at her across the fire.

Lucy leaned out the dilapidated door to wipe her hands on the grass. She came back in and wormed her way under her blankets. She lay there quietly for a while, watching the stars and trying to relax. The weight of both their unspoken worries pressed down on her chest.

"Would you be alright if your uncle found you?" Lucy asked hesitantly.

"What did you say?" Caspian asked, voice slow like molasses.

"If your uncle chased you. Would something bad happen to you?"

Lucy could hear Caspian shifting under his blanket. "To tell the truth, I'm not sure what he would do. My tutor told me that I was in grave danger, but it's hard to imagine my uncle killing me. I suppose he might."

"Killing you?" Lucy's eyes snapped open. "Why?"

Caspian hummed. "He believes that I stand between him and what he wants."

"Do you?"

"I don't know." Caspian still sounded sleepy. "What he wants belongs to me, and I will take it someday. But for now, I'm seventeen and have only myself. He has an army."

"An army‽" For a moment, the only sounds in the cabin were the snaps and crackles of the fire. Caspian sighed out a long breath.

"I am Prince Caspian the Tenth," he said.

"Oh." While Miraz didn't have much of an effect on the Pevensies' life in the forest, she knew enough of the situation for her stomach to clench. She rolled over to look at Caspian across the fire. "I see."

"Yes, exactly." Caspian yawned. "So here I am."

"You seem awfully calm about it," Lucy said.

"It's all rather dream-like. I left in the middle of the night. I suppose I knew for a long time, deep down, that it would happen."

"That's awful," Lucy whispered.

Caspian met her eyes from across the room. "The last thing I want is for you to feel bad for me, young Lucy."

"In that you will be disappointed, because I do feel sorry for you and how you've been treated!" Lucy exclaimed.

"What about you? You have lost your three siblings. I have lost only the awful people I was forced to call my family."

"You said this all feels like a dream to you. I feel the same." Lucy sighed. "I can hardly believe they're gone."

"We will find them."

"I hope so." Lucy said it so softly she wasn't sure Caspian heard her.

"We will. No matter how far we must walk, no matter how steep the path, we will find your siblings," Caspian vowed.

As Caspian said it, Lucy could feel her heart lifting. She wasn't alone in her search.

"Goodnight, Caspian."

"Goodnight, Lucy, and sleep well."

Lucy slept uneasily that night, worse than she had in her little tent the night before. She awoke from long, winding dreams to the sounds of Caspian's gentle snores and wind whistling through their shelter. Upon awaking for the third time, Lucy got out of her bedroll. She picked up her blanket and wrapped it around her. She picked up the basket of roasted nuts, stepped outside of the cabin, and found a seat on a log. The early-morning forest wore a woolly shawl of fog that blunted its sharp, unfamiliar edges. Lucy could use one hand to count the times she'd ventured this far away from her home. She'd never come this far alone. She tightened her blanket around her shoulders and shivered. She was glad for the roasted beech nuts. They would have been nicer hot, but they were still good, and Lucy ate half the basket before she realised what she was doing. She watched the forest rouse from its slumber: birds beginning to sing, rabbits rustling through the bushes. Lucy even saw a bobcat winding its way between the trees. She held as still as possible, ready to flee at any moment, but the bobcat didn't approach.

"Could you not sleep?"

Lucy startled, spilling the remaining beech nuts out over her lap. "Caspian!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." He came around to her side of the log and picked up the beech nuts that had fallen on the ground. "Are you accustomed to rising this early?"

"No," Lucy admitted, scooping the fallen nuts into her basket. "With the sunrise, usually, not before it." She accepted the handful of nuts Caspian offered her.

Caspian sat down beside Lucy. They sat there for awhile in the morning quiet, the only noise the gentle crunching of beech nuts. Eventually they got up together, packed up their bedding, and headed on their way. Partway through the morning they came upon a mighty centaur. Her lower half was that of a draft horse, about as tall as Caspian at her horse shoulders.

"Good morning!" Lucy said.

"Greetings and salutations," said the great centaur. She leaned forward so that she could see them better from her great height. "I do not often see humans in this part of the forest. What are your names, and why are you here?"

"I'm Lucy. He's Caspian."

"We are on a quest to recover this lady's brothers and sister," said Caspian, indicating Lucy.

"I am Meadowdell," she said, bending one knee towards them. "That is a noble quest. Why have they gone?"

"They were taken by a witch."

"A great shame. Do you know where the witch has taken them?"

Lucy pointed in the direction they'd been walking. "The magpies tell us they went that way."

Meadowdell swished her tail. "I have planned to visit my own sister who lives over that way. Should you wish it, you could ride on my back."

Lucy and Caspian exchanged glances: a ride from a centaur was a great honour. "We thank you, madam," Caspian said.

In response, Meadowdell walked over to a boulder. Caspian cupped his hands into a saddle for Lucy to step into, then boosted her up to Meadowdell's back. He stepped up onto the boulder and settled in behind Lucy.

"Are those iron shoes you wear?" asked Meadowdell. She reached behind her head to tie up her loose hair.

"Yes—I didn't mean to hurt you, shall I take them off?" Lucy asked. While they were still not comfortable, she sometimes forgot that she was wearing them.

"No, no. It isn't that." Meadowdell twisted to look over her shoulder at them. "Hold on snugly—you can put your arms around me, small one."

Lucy obliged, leaning forward to wrap her arms around Meadowdell's stomach. "How will you steady yourself, Caspian?"

"I'll be fine," he assured her, but Meadowdell broke into a canter, then a gallop, and Caspian lurched forward into Lucy. He tightened his legs around Meadowdell's sides and grabbed onto Lucy's upper arms.

Meadowdell was much faster than any horse either of them had ever ridden. Lucy kept her mouth tightly closed in order not to get a mouthful of Meadowdell's hair as it streamed out behind her. The forest slipped by on either side of them, blurring into a uniform green backdrop to their adventure. Oddly, when Lucy looked under Meadowdell's arm to see what lay ahead, it didn't look as though they were making progress. The mountains in front of them didn't appear to grow larger as they went. After about ten minutes, Meadowdell slowed to a walk.

"It is as I suspected. You will not make any progress on your quest unless you walk."

"Why?" Lucy asked.

"I have heard tales of other questers who have been given iron shoes. It signals a journey they must make on foot, a journey that will be long and hard. I am glad you are not alone as you undertake this quest," Meadowdell explained.

Lucy looked down at her shoes. "And if I took them off?"

Meadowdell shrugged. "It is old magic that governs these shoes. It may work, though I do not know enough to say for certain."

"Thank you for trying to help us!" Lucy said.

"You are very welcome, younglings." Meadowdell waited patiently as Lucy and Caspian slid off her back onto the ground. She took off one of her necklaces, a small golden acorn on a chain. "Take this. I do not know exactly what you will face, but the stories often involve gifts."

"Thank you!" Lucy said. She fastened the clasp on the necklace around her own neck and patted the pendant where it lay on her chest. She reached up to give Meadowdell a hug, but she could barely reach her arms around where Meadowdell's human torso joined her withers, even on tiptoe. Meadowdell stroked her hair.

"Be well," she said, smiling down at Lucy. Then she flicked her tail and cantered off into the forest.

Lucy and Caspian continued on their way. Late that afternoon they stopped to make camp. Lucy showed Caspian how to make snares so they could catch some rabbits for dinner. They wrapped the meat in leaves and put it amongst the coals to slow roast.

"May I braid your hair?" Lucy asked. As soon as she'd seen Caspian's lustrous blond hair she'd longed to run her hands through it, but it hadn't seemed the sort of thing she could ask a stranger.

"Certainly." Caspian loosed it from its ribbon and ran his fingers through it, undoing the tangles made by the wind as they raced through the forest. He settled himself on the grass as Lucy knelt behind him. His hair was just as soft as she'd hoped. She happily began to weave it into a braid.

"I learned how to do some of the braids the servants used to do on my hair. I could braid your hair," Caspian continued.

"I would like that!" Lucy undid a small section and braided it again, securing the end with Caspian's ribbon. Then she turned around, sitting on the grass, while Caspian braided her hair. She relished the sensation of gentle fingers against her scalp: it reminded her of trading braids with Susan. They usually wore their hair in simple styles, but once in a while they liked to practice more elaborate braids and updos.

"Were you friends with your servants?" Lucy asked. It was hard for her to imagine what having servants would be like. Lucy didn't know what she would do while a maid was in the same room stoking the fire or sweeping the floor.

Caspian sighed. His hands slowed against Lucy's hair. "Not as much as I would have liked. My uncle thought it was beneath me, but I took time with them when I could."

"Did you have no one to play with?"

Caspian laughed. "It's been a long time since I've been able to 'play' with anyone. I do play cards or dice, once in awhile, with visiting royalty from other countries. When I was a child I could sometimes steal moments in the garden with other kids. But for years my days have been filled with lessons." Caspian picked a piece of grass and carefully tied it around the end of Lucy's braid.

"What kind of lessons?" Her hair done, Lucy turned around to face Caspian.

"Duelling, etiquette, dancing, history, maths, geography…" Caspian made a face. "It's all very well, but I would rather spend time outside. I loved my lessons with Cornelius, though. He could make the driest topics interesting."

"I've never been to school," Lucy confessed. "The local school closed before I could go. Sometimes Ed and I use Su and Peter's old books, but it's not the same."

"Well, once we've regained your siblings," Caspian said, smiling slightly, "I could teach you what I remember as you teach me how to cook."

"I would like that," Lucy replied. She reached up to touch her braid. "You'll have to teach me how to do this braid, too!"

"Anytime, Lucy. Now, I suppose it's nearly time for bed…"

"Bedroll, you mean," Lucy laughed. "Yes, I suppose so. Thanks for the braiding, Caspian."

"Thank _you_, Lucy. Sleep well."

"Goodnight!"

Meadowdell's prediction about the length of their journey came true: Lucy and Caspian spent weeks or months on the trail of the witch. They soon began to lose track of time, though they could tell that a considerable amount of time passed: the leaves began to fall in earnest, the sun went to its rest earlier and earlier, the nights grew chillier every day. Lucy set a deadfall trap to catch animals for fur cloaks. Both Lucy and Caspian grew hale and strong.

One morning they awoke to a light dusting of snow over the ground. As much as Lucy had tired of their journey, she delighted in the snow. It fell gently during the day, allowing her to catch flakes on her tongue. As the land turned from grassy hills into rocky hills into foothills of mountains, their walk turned into more of a scramble over steep hills and rockfalls. They were both sweaty and out of breath by the time they arrived at the top of the steepest hill yet.

They could see a castle.

It was nestled into the valley between the next two hills, made of ice as much as rock, with tall, narrow spikes of both stabbing up into the sky. Lucy could only describe it as exquisite and terrible. She couldn't tear her eyes away from its horrible beauty.

"There it is!" said Caspian. He, too, seemed to be under its spell.

"I don't know what to do now that we're here!" said Lucy, beginning to be frightened. "We have no idea how it is guarded or what sort of powers that witch has."

Caspian took out his knife. "The only thing we can do is to watch."

So they did. They walked the circumference of the surrounding hills, observing the castle from all angles. (It was no less unnerving from behind.) They watched for guards and anyone else entering or leaving the castle. (No one went in. No one went out.) In fact, it almost seemed as though the castle was in a deep slumber. The only signs of life (for all the birds and rabbits and mice would not go anywhere near) were the wolves roaming the grounds in small packs.

As they circled in closer to the castle, Lucy spotted a wide green lawn, incongruous in its obviously man-made nature: despite the unsettling nature of the rest of the castle, it seemed as though it had grown from the rock itself. The lawn had many statues of people and animals keeping stern watch over it. As Caspian and Lucy watched, five figures marched out onto the green. They weren't close enough to see in detail, but the first three were of approximate human size and shape. They wore long robes of blue. After them came a very tall woman all in white and wearing a crown. Finally, quite a short figure came through the door and shut it after them. The first four all sat at a table. The fifth came and served them drinks.

Lucy and Caspian exchanged glances before wordlessly agreeing to get closer. They worked their way down towards the castle until they reached a better vantage point. From there, Lucy could recognise the three humanoid figures as Peter, Susan, and Edmund. They each looked unnaturally flushed as they mechanically sipped their drinks.

"Whatever are we going to do?" Lucy whispered to Caspian.

"I don't know." Caspian furrowed his brow. "I didn't like the look of those wolves."

"Me neither." Lucy leaned back against a boulder as she thought.

"I suppose she has servants," Caspian said. "Perhaps we could look for the servants' entrance. Do you suppose they would let us in?"

"That's a good idea! W should wait until they go back inside." So Lucy and Caspian sat with their backs to the rocks as they waited. Lucy eventually suggested a storytelling game. She and Caspian traded sentences, creating a disjointed story about leopards on an adventure. The leopards were extremely good at adventuring, but they did have trouble holding keys and torches and rope.

When Lucy next popped her head up over the boulder, the Pevensies and their captors had disappeared. She and Caspian waited until all the wolves had wandered around to the front of the castle before hurrying down to the lawn. They walked the perimeter of the castle until they found what they assumed was the servants' entrance. It had no lock or even a handle.

"Shall we knock?" Lucy whispered.

"Perhaps you could stand back. I will go in, and if I'm not back out in five minutes, come in after me."

"Alright." Lucy stepped into a niche carved into the walls so she would be hidden from anyone opening the door. She took out her knife and held it along her side, under her cloak.

Caspian knocked on the door. He jumped back as the door began to move. The knobbly rock began to shift and groan until it formed the shape of a man's face. It was rather a nasty face with stern eyes and a cruel mouth, and it said,

"And who do you think you are?"

"I-was hoping to speak to someone about employment here," Caspian fumbled.

"Is that so?" The stone face squinted at Caspian. "And were you invited here, or have you just shown up?"

"My—cousin—wrote me about this place, though they didn't invite me explicitly."

"That doesn't sound like an invitation," the face growled. "What's your cousin's name?"

Just as Caspian was about to begin weaving an answer, the door began slowly opening, its hinges groaning and complaining. A young woman came out through the door and addressed the stone face.

"Don't be such a grouch, Tiberius. I'm happy to see my cousin any day." She smiled at Caspian. "Won't you come in?"

"Oh— yes, of course. It is lovely to see you again!" Caspian followed the girl as she disappeared through the doorway.

She led him down a hallway lit by flickering torches and into a cavernous kitchen. Countless workers in pale blue uniforms chopped vegetables, kneaded bread, and stirred soups. They came to a stop in a quiet back corner stacked with burlap bags of flour. She had the delicate look of a birch dryad and her voice was high and soft as she said, "Quick! Why are you here? It isn't for a job, is it?"

Caspian glanced about them, but the nearest workers were yards and yards away. "I'm here with a friend. Her brothers and sister were stolen away by a woman who lives here. We wish to rescue them."

The girl's sheets of hair rippled around her face like waves as she shook her head. "What a horrible business. She's taken girls and boys before, but never like this! I don't think they've slept in weeks. She's done something to them to keep them awake, it must be. But I don't know how you could rescue them! She's always with them, and the castle is full of her supporters."

"Do you know why she took them?"

The dryad shook her head. "It's all hush hush. Of course I've heard about three different rumours around the kitchen, but I don't think any of them are true."

Lucy walked the perimeter of the castle, looking into windows as she came across them. Most of the rooms were empty, though a few had servants dusting furniture or cleaning the windows. At these Lucy got on her hands and knees and crawled underneath the sill. She spotted another door as she crossed from the back of the castle to the side, this one manned by an armed guard. Lucy watched for a moment before making her way back to the door named Tiberius. She didn't know how she was going to make it past; the door was clearly in a bad mood. Eventually Lucy decided to pretend as though she was not planning to get into the castle at all. After checking to make sure that Tiberius' face had melted back into the door, she went over to the edge of the forest and threw her necklace across the meadow and into the snow near the door.

"Oh no!" Lucy said, as if to herself. She began rummaging through the light coating of snow with a stick, occasionally crouching to examine a patch of ground more closely. She gradually worked her way closer and closer to the door. "I can't lose this necklace!"

"Oi! You! What are you doing, little girl?" called Tiberius.

Lucy looked up. "I'm looking for my necklace! I think I dropped it when I walked this way!"

"What business do you have near this castle?"

"Oh, none at all! Just visiting my grandmother," Lucy said. "Is this a castle? That's grand!"

"It's the castle of Jadis, the White Witch," said Tiberius.

"Wow! A real witch?" Filling her voice with sugar was fun, Lucy thought. "You must be treated so well for working for such a woman!"

"They treat me fine," Tiberius said gruffly.

"Can you eat food? Oh, the food must be divine here."

"I can eat, but they don't give me any food."

"Oh no, that's terrible! Here, I have some jerky and nuts." Lucy began to rummage in her bag. "It's not much, but I feel so bad for you, doing all this work for no reward!"

"Oh, I don't need…" Tiberius began. He closed his mouth when he saw the shiny roasted nuts Lucy offered. "I would love some, thank you."

Lucy held the nuts up to Tiberius' mouth.

"I don't have hands," he mumbled.

"Oh! Of course." Lucy dropped a nut into his open mouth.

"That was delicious! Did you roast these?"

"I did!" Lucy smiled. "Another?"

It didn't take long for Tiberius to warm up to Lucy's bright chatter. She rather liked him with a little bit of food in his stone belly.

"This is a lovely castle. Do you know what it's like inside?" Lucy asked, taking a roasted nut for herself.

"I've never seen it, of course. I hear from the servants that it's lovely."

"Could I take a look? I could tell you all about it!"

"I suppose no harm done, as long as you stay out of sight and don't touch anything." Tiberius looked longingly down at her basket. "Could I have another nut?"

Lucy gave Tiberius another few chestnuts. "Thank you, sir!"

"Mmmf," said Tiberius, mouth full.

The door creaked open and Lucy disappeared inside. If anything had happened to Caspian, she had wasted precious minutes speaking to Tiberius, but Lucy hadn't had many other ideas for getting in safely and with a minimum of fuss. Now, where was Caspian? She wished they'd come up with some sort of signal with which to find each other. She didn't have far to look: she saw a flash of blond hair around a corner that turned out to be her friend. He was accompanied by a dryad.

"Caspian!" Lucy whispered. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I am!" He indicated the dryad. "This is Whisperleaf. She will lead us to your brothers and sisters."

"Just the one sister," Lucy corrected automatically. Then the sentence caught up with her. "Really‽" She impulsively gathered Whisperleaf into a tight hug.

"Really!" Whisperleaf confirmed, returning the hug. "Come into the kitchen. I will get you some uniforms to wear."

The uniforms were gorgeously starched: Lucy almost wanted to ask Whisperleaf how it was done so she could tell Mrs. Beaver, who was always looking for better ways to do things. Lucy felt marvelous in the first clean set of clothes she'd worn in weeks. Once the uniforms were in order, she and Caspian followed Whisperleaf through the back hallways of the castle. Any other time Lucy might have appreciated them for their flickering candles and cobwebs, straight out of any of her storybooks. Now, however, she wished they could see more than sixty feet ahead of them and that their footsteps wouldn't slap so loudly against the stone. It was impossible to be quiet with her iron clodhoppers.

"Don't be so nervous," Whisperleaf told her. "Pretend like you belong here."

Lucy straightened her hunched shoulders and held her head high. Oddly, it made her feel better, especially with the crisp uniform. She smoothed her hands over her apron.

"How are we going to do this?" Lucy whispered back.

"We'll wait until Jadis is gone. Then we'll tell the guard that we're here to...take the Pevensies to the tailor."

"What happens after that?" Caspian asked. "After we leave the castle, I mean. Those wolves ought to be able to sniff us out in half a second."

"That's a good question," Whisperleaf frowned. "How would you feel about stealing some horses?"

Caspian shook his head, but Lucy said, "She stole Peter and Su and Ed. Let's take some horses."

"Would you mind, Whisperleaf?"

Whisperleaf shrugged. "They're not my horses. Plus, Jadis is…" She lowered her voice as they approached the door. "...you know. Here we are." She turned to Lucy and put her hands on the younger girl's shoulders. "We can do this!"

Lucy nodded and squeezed Whisperleaf's hand. "We can do this. Together."

Whisperleaf stepped through the door, Lucy and Caspian following close behind. They were in a much fancier part of the castle than the shabby servants' wing. Everything was draped in tapestries and textiles of blue, white, and silver. The end of the hallway was dominated by a pair of silver double doors reaching all the way to the ceiling. Whisperleaf led them to a set of smaller silver doors to the right of the main doors. A faun stood outside cleaning his nails with his knife.

"Good afternoon, Aurrus," Whisperleaf said cheerily. "We're here to escort the Pevensies down to see Tish. They're to get new dinner things."

Aurrus grunted, waving one hand towards the door without looking up from his task.

"Thanks, you're a dear." Whisperleaf opened the door and beckoned Caspian and Lucy inside. She clapped one hand over Lucy's mouth before Lucy could gasp. Her siblings were all sitting nearly motionless on the luxurious furniture. Peter toyed with a chess set. Edmund flipped mechanically through a book. Susan threaded and rethreaded an embroidery needle.

"Pretend everything's normal," Whisperleaf murmured, taking her hand away from Lucy's mouth. "Good afternoon, gentlemen and lady! We're here to take you to the tailor."

Peter set down the chess piece. "Alright."

"If you insist," said Susan tonelessly.

"Must I?" asked Edmund, though he set down his book.

All three of them looked up at once and spoke with one voice. "Lucy."

"Shhh!" Whisperleaf hissed. "You don't know her!"

"We're supposed to take her to Jadis!" said Susan.

"She will join us as kings and queens," Peter explained.

"What?" Lucy asked.

Whisperleaf cut her off. "There's no time! Please come with us quietly. We will explain later!" She marched forward and gripped Susan's arm. Caspian took Edmund's and Lucy took Peter's.

"I will see you later, Aurrus!" Whisperleaf said as they passed through the door.

Aurrus grunted.

"Where-" began Susan, but Whisperleaf shushed her.

"We really must insist-" said Peter. Lucy stomped on his foot to shut him up, forgetting about her iron shoes.

"What was that for?" Peter asked her.

"Please just be quiet, Peter. Just give us a little while and then I will join you as queen." She wiped away the tears beginning to well in her eyes.

Whisperleaf ushered them into the servants' back hallways. From there it was a short walk back to the kitchens. They paused in the hallway while they tried to decide what to do.

"Are there any other back doors, Whisperleaf?" Caspian asked.

"There's one we can use. But I don't know how we will get around to the stables or how we will take the horses."

"Who looks after the horses?" Lucy asked.

"Different people, usually, but today it's Dar. He's not the brightest." Whisperleaf looked both ways down the hallway. "We should go."

The six of them shuffled down the hallway and out to the other door. It was hidden behind a tapestry and barely looked like a door. Whisperleaf took a needle out of her apron pocket and pricked her finger before wiping the bead of blood onto the door. It creaked open.

"Why do you keep working for this witch‽" Lucy asked, recoiling from the smear of blood.

Whisperleaf shrugged as she led the posse out into the meadow. "Didn't have much choice but to take this job in the first place. And she doesn't want us leaving and spilling her secrets." She pointed to the stone statues overlooking the garden. "Some of those statues used to be servants."

Lucy shuddered. "How horrible."

"She turns people into _stone_?" Caspian asked.

"I know, I know, but we don't have _time_." Whisperleaf led them around the side of the castle to the stable. Servants and wolves drifted past, but none gave them odd looks: Peter, Susan, and Edmund had gone quiet and unresistant.

The stable was quiet and warm under its dusting of snow. It smelled of hay and fur. Half of it was filled with snow-white reindeer, the other half with horses with feathery hooves. A sleepy-looking teenager rested in a pile of straw at the end of the hall.

"Is he asleep?" Lucy whispered.

Whisperleaf craned her neck to get a better look. "I wouldn't bet on it if I were a betting gal."

"What shall we do?" Lucy asked.

"I can see if he's asleep. If not, I could distract him with questions about the reindeer…?" Caspian suggested.

"I think he'll still see us leading them out. Here. Let's have Caspian take the…" Whisperleaf gestured to the statue-like Pevensie siblings. "...out to the forest, now. Then I'll take the horses out there while Lucy talks to him. May be worth a try to flirt with him, Lucy…" Whisperleaf made an apologetic face. She helped Caspian herd Lucy's siblings out the stable door.

Lucy took a deep breath before walking down to the end of the stable, iron shoes clunking on the flagged stone floor.

"Hello?" Dar sat up in the straw.

"Hello, I'm Lucy." She smiled down at Dar. He appeared only a few years older than her, maybe Edmund's age, which made him much less intimidating.

"Whaddya want?" He ran a hand through his messy hair and yawned.

"The horses are beautiful. You're so lucky to work with them."

Dar shrugged against the straw. "I guess. It's just a job."

"You don't care about them?" Lucy asked, itching to say something else, knowing she couldn't irritate him. She loved horses.

Dar shrugged again. "I'm just saving up to marry my girl."

"Oh, congratulations!" Lucy brought her clasped hands to her chest. "That's lovely!"

Dar smiled for the first time. "She's the love of my life."

"What's her name?"

"Iridavan. Everyone calls her Iri." Dar looked off into the distance with misty eyes. Unfortunately, horse theft was happening in the distance. "Hey! You!"

Lucy gestured wildly, making her golden acorn pendant swing in a wide arc. "Please! We have to do this. She took my siblings!"

Dar's eyes narrowed as he looked past Lucy to Whisperleaf. "What's in it for me? I could get beaten, y'know. Or turned into stone!"

Lucy shook her head helplessly and looked down at her shoes. "I...don't know. That horrible woman!" She took another deep breath. Glancing at her pendant, she said, "I have this necklace. It's real gold-you could sell it or give it to Iri…"

Dar's eyes flicked to the necklace. "Gold?"

Lucy held the acorn between thumb and finger and wiggled it at him. "Gold," she confirmed. "But you have to pretend you never saw us."

Dar's eyes narrowed again. "They'll blame me for the horses, y'know."

Lucy shrugged. "Break the gates and make it look like they broke out. I really have to go! Will you do it?"

"Yeah, alright. Gimme." Dar held out a hand.

Lucy winced as she dropped the beautiful pendant into his hand. Still, it was more than a fair trade. "Thank you." She glanced over her shoulder at Whisperleaf, who nodded. "You never saw us." She ran down the stable hallway to join Whisperleaf. They walked calmly out of the stable, just in case anyone saw, before ducking into the forest to join the others.

"Join us for a short pleasure ride," Caspian was urging Edmund. Peter and Susan were already astride their horse. "Then we will go back and you can have Lucy."

Edmund looked doubtfully at Lucy. "You promise, Lu?"

Hearing her affectionate nickname in his blank tone of voice made Lucy's skin crawl. She couldn't meet his eyes as she said, "I promise."

"No time to waste," Whisperleaf said. She boosted Lucy up to the back of one of the horses and mounted the horse behind her. Caspian did the same for Edmund. Whisperleaf took the lead.

"Where are we going?" Lucy asked.

"I've heard rumours about this place called Aslan's How. I think we will be safe there," Whisperleaf said. "Look, we should ride our horses through the creek. Throw off the scent." The horses splashed through the creek. At times their hooves had to break through thin sheets of ice. Their prints were all too obvious in the snow, but there was nothing to be done about that.

It was a few hours before they got to Aslan's How. The spell seemed to wear off Peter and Susan a little; the unnatural flush faded from their cheeks. Edmund seemed to have taken the spell a little harder. From time to time Caspian whispered in his ear.

Whatever Lucy was expecting from a place called Aslan's How, an ordinary-looking hill was not it. She wasn't sure why Whisperleaf thought they would be safe there.

Whisperleaf led them around to the back of the hill and pointed out a door disguised with shrubbery. "Here, Caspian, you take them in. Lucy, you and I can ride these horses out into the woods somewhere, hopefully make them think we didn't stop here. We don't have any rope, do we?"

"We do!" Lucy reached into her bag.

Whisperleaf grabbed the rope and dismounted, neatly tying one of the horses to Lucy's horse. "I'll ride the other and this one will just come along for the ride," she explained.

Caspian dismounted and held out a hand for Edmund, who slid off the horse. Peter and Susan did the same.

"Why are we here?" Susan asked. She still spoke in a tone flatter than normal, though the light was coming back into her eyes.

Whisperleaf took Edmund's arm and gently towed him into the How, the others in her wake. The door closed behind them with a gentle thump, leaving them in pitch darkness. "We are here to get you away from Jadis and back with your sister."

"Ah, here's a torch," Caspian said. There was the sound of metal against stone before the torch flickered to life.

"Away from Jadis," Peter murmured.

Susan frowned. "I can't remember, but I don't think she was nice to us."

"There was good food," Edmund offered. "We were supposed to bring her Lucy. Why was that?"

Lucy bit her lip. "Can we go?" she asked Whisperleaf in an undertone. "I don't like to see them like this."

"Good luck, Caspian," Whisperleaf said, clapping his shoulder. She pushed the door open, bright light spilling into the hallway.

They didn't ride the horses for long. Neither of them wanted to walk a long distance back to the How after the day they'd had. So after a short ride, they dismounted, untied the extra horse, and slapped all of them to make them run. Hopefully they'd be able to find the castle again, Lucy thought, though only for their sake, not for Jadis's.

"Let's make extra footprints so they think there were more of us," Lucy suggested.

"Good idea."

The two of them ran back and forth over their tracks, varying their stride length, until the snow was a mess of prints. They did the same past Aslan's How and into the forest, hoping to lead any pursuers away, before walking back to the How. It was warm and full of light by the time they arrived: Caspian and Peter had lit a fire. Susan and Peter had even started dinner from what meagre offerings Caspian had left in his bag. It was mostly jerky and nuts, though they had a small amount of nettles and other winter greens for a broth.

Lucy took her place on her bedroll by the fire. She groaned as she stretched her legs. As she crossed one foot over her knees, she noticed a place wearing thin on the sole of her iron shoe. She took it off and held it close to her eyes to see in the dim light. Sure enough, there was a hole! She pulled off her other shoe. It, too, had a hole in the sole.

"Look at this!" She held the shoes out to the group. Caspian and Whisperleaf came to take a look.

"Well, I never!" said Whisperleaf. She took the shoe from Lucy and poked the hole. "Thank goodness you don't have to wear these anymore. Why were you wearing them in the first place?"

"Father Christmas gave them to me and said I would need them. We came across a centaur who said it means I have a quest to do." Lucy smiled and shrugged. "I guess my quest is over!"

Caspian crouched down to her level to give her a hug. "Free of those smelly shoes at last," he said, kissing the top of Lucy's head.

Lucy reached up to run her hand over his braid. "Not even happy I've rescued my siblings, just happy you don't have to smell my feet anymore, I see!" Both of them laughed.

"I'm happy you've found your siblings, too, Lu," Caspian said, letting her go. He dropped from his crouch to sit next to her, turning to watch the siblings at their work over the fire. Whisperleaf set down the shoe and went to join them, taking an experimental sip of the broth.

"Dinner's ready," Susan said. Edmund had gone looking for anything they could use as a bowl. Consequently, their broth and jerky was served in old army helmets.

"The ancient sweat really adds a nice salty flavour," Whisperleaf said sardonically, but she sipped the soup as eagerly as any of them.

"It's delicious, Su," Lucy said. She smiled softly at her sister over the rim of her helmet. She thought Susan was almost back to normal, but not being sure made her nervous.

"Thank you. Peter helped." Susan nudged him, smiling. She took another sip of the soup. Her eyes widened and she slowly lowered the helmet. "Hey! You saved us."

"We did," said Whisperleaf.

"Are you still under her spell?" Lucy asked.

"I don't think so." Susan narrowed her eyes. "I remember very little, but I don't feel foggy anymore."

"I don't either." Peter set down his soup and closed his eyes. "It was awful, Lucy."

A shiver of horror went down Lucy's spine. She didn't know whether or not she wanted to hear it. "I can imagine!"

Edmund spoke up for the first time in what felt like hours. "Thank you, Lu."

Lucy looked over to see that Edmund's eyes were clear and all the unnatural flush was gone from his cheeks. Tears began to spill from the corners of her eyes. She set down her soup and beckoned to her siblings, who all came over to fold her into a big group hug. She reached out one hand back towards Caspian and Whisperleaf, who joined the hug. It was so warm and soft that Lucy's tears of relief flowed even faster down her cheeks.

"No offense, Lu, but when was the last time you bathed?" Edmund asked, wrinkling his nose and stepping away.

Lucy laughed through her tears. "I have no idea." She stepped back from the group and lifted her arm to sniff.

"We were pretty well focused on rescuing you from a witch," Caspian added. "That's much more important than how long ago we bathed, don't you think, Lucy?"

"I agree." Lucy reached for Caspian's hands with both of her own. "Thank you, thank you," she whispered.

Caspian pulled Lucy into a hug. "You're so very welcome, Lu."

Then Lucy hugged Whisperleaf. "We couldn't have done it without you."

"I would do it again in a second," said Whisperleaf, ruffling Lucy's hair.

They all washed up their helmets and laid out all the soft materials they could find to make one big bed by the fire. They still had a long journey ahead of them, Lucy knew. They would have to be careful to get away from Jadis. But now that she had her family back, the hole in her heart was beginning to heal. Lucy curled up between her brothers and fell quickly into the first peaceful sleep she'd had in months.

I can't know for sure, but I would like to think they lived happily ever after.


End file.
